Purchased as part of the mixed 6 pack. 12oz bottle. 5.5% ABV. Pours out to a clear, spritzy light golden, forming a tall poofy off white head with superior retention and lacing in part due to it's brisk carbonation, ~3.0 carbs or so. The aroma is strawberry at an arm's length, but when the nose is put in the glass one gets subtle wheat and hops. Mouthfeel is light bodied and spritzy. The taste is a recap of the aroma with lots of strawberries, a subtle tartness, very mild and very non-descript metallic bitterness, a metallic note in the finish and fake strawberry flavor (like Frankenberry cereal) in the aftertaste. Easy to drink, but I really wouldn't want more than 1 or 2 of these. The combination of the strawberries, tartness and aftertaste starts to taste like strawberry daquiri spit-up.

I picked up a bottle of Samuel Adams Strawberry Lager from this years LongShot Series last week for $1,89 at The Lager Mill. I'm working my way though this years LongShot Series and this was the next one that I randomly grabbed, I have yet to have a Strawberry Lager that I liked, so let's see if this one can win me over. Notched best by September. Poured from a brown 12oz bottle into an Imperial pint glass.

A- The label looks ok, it's got the typical LongShot label with a drawing of the winner with their name on it. It poured a slightly hazy yellow color that took on a golden hue when held to the light with two and a half fingers worth of fluffy white head that died down a thing ring that left some nice lacing behind. This was a nice looking Lager, but it was just a little hazy for the style.

S- The aroma starts off with a higher amount of sweetness followed by tons of strawberrys being the first to show up, at first I get a big strawberry preserve like aroma that develops into a strawberry hard candy like aroma, Up next comes a light citrus aroma with some creamy and bready malt aromas. The aroma was average, but I thought the lack of balance with the sweet and pungent strawberry aromas really hurt the aroma of this beer, the strawberry was too intense.

T- The taste seems to be similar to the aroma but much lighter and balanced, it starts off with a medium amount of sweetness followed by some grainy, sweet malt, and bread flavors that make for a typical Lager base. The strawberry flavors are just about at the right level and aren't too overpowering and they don't taste artificial. On the finish there's pretty much no bitterness with a slight bit of tartness instead with a grain, sweet malts, and strawberry like aftertaste. The taste was Ok, it was better and more balanced than the aroma.

M- Smooth, clean, crisp, on the light side of being medium bodied with a medium amount of carbonation. The mouthfeel was nice and it seemed to be fairly true to style.

Overall I wasn't really into this beer and I thought it was an average example of the style, it wasn't the worst Strawberry beer I've had, but it didn't win me over either. This beer had decent drinkability, it was smooth and not filling, but the flavors didn't do the best job at holding my attention, so I think one would be enough for me, I don't feel the need to have another one. What I liked the most about this beer was the mouthfeel, it worked nicely with this beer and it was fairly true to style. What I liked the least about this beer was the aroma, the strawberrys were just way too dominant for my liking and it made the aroma really unbalanced. All in all this beer was ok, but it just wasn't for me and it hasn't broken the trend of disappointing strawberry beers for me. I would say this beer was pretty similar to Abita's Strawberry Lager and I think they are just about on the same Level. This was my second beer from this years LongShot series and another one that I just wasn't into, I hope this last one is pretty good because because so far I'm not a fan of this years LongShot Series.

A: Pours a straw color ridden with chunky yeast particles. The head is a two finger white shade. It's nicely creamy and retains acceptably. TONS of lacing on the glass, too. But still...the body's a mess.

S: The strawberry notes come through strongly at first. When allowed to open up, slight (balanced) diacetyl and noble hopping comes through, as well. The first few whiffs, though, were ridiculously sweet - almost like it was a strawberry soda instead of a beer.

T: It's got a little more balance than I expected. The first part is where the fruit qualities reside; after that, it morphs into a pre-pro pilsner, displaying notes of noble hops, biscuity malt/yeast, and mild adjunct. Some strawberry sweetness returns in the finish, a bit excessively at times. Nonetheless a successful warm weather refresher, nor does it strike me as being disgustingly artificial.

M: Not as dry as I like my lagers, but it's a fruit beer. It could be a bit less cloying on the back end at least. Still, I like its drinkability. Completely under-carbonated, though.

O: On occasion, I'm a sucker for a good lager. And also on occasion, I'm a sucker for a good fruit beer. This fulfills both quotas reasonably well. At the end of the day, it's rock-solid mindless refreshment, no more, no less.

The flavor is pretty much light strawberry with not much in the way of beer flavor. The strawberry flavor isn't bad, it tastes fairly authentic and isn't overly sweet, but still dominates the beer completely.

The mouthfeel is a bit light and fizzy.

If you love strawberries this is for you, if you want beer get something else.